The 1000 - London's most influential people 2014: The Arts

London’s reputation as an artistic and creative hub has never been greater, attracting talent and audiences from around the world who know nowhere else is as passionate or demanding. From theatre and film to art and books, these are the stars who are pushing boundaries

Theatre

Gillian AndersonActressOnce the star of TheX-Files, this petite American, who spent a chunk of her childhood in Crouch End and briefly had a blue mohican, is an electrifying stage performer. Most recently she was a revelatory Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Young Vic.

Tessa RossNational Theatre, chief executive designateFormerly head of Film4 and then head of drama at Channel 4, this Bafta-winning Londoner is a TV big-hitter making an unexpected and exciting transition into the world of theatre, as she steps into the shoes of the NT’s highly regarded Nick Starr.

Sir Howard PanterRosemary Squire Theatre ownersFrequently described as the most powerful people in British theatre, this dynamic married couple preside over the Ambassador Theatre Group, the UK’s largest theatre operator — and also the first British company to own a Broadway venue. US private equity firm Providence Equity bought ATG for up to £350 million last autumn.

Richard BeanPlaywrightThe former stand-up comic from Hull made his name with One Man, Two Guvnors. This year he returned to the National Theatre with his savage satire Great Britain, about the phone-hacking scandal, and he’s venturing into musicals with Made in Dagenham.

Dominic DromgooleShakespeare’s Globe, artistic directorDromgoole has run the Globe for nearly a decade. This year he has presided over the opening of the gorgeous Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, an indoor space next to the main Bankside theatre — and has directed a production of Hamlet that by April 2016 will have graced a remarkable 205 countries.

Mike BartlettPlaywrightThough he originally aspired to be a director, this 34-year-old from Oxfordshire is a prolific and increasingly daring playwright. Critical successes include Cock and Chariots of Fire. His most recent work is the provocative and very funny King Charles III, a satire about Prince Charles taking the throne.

Sonia FriedmanProducerComing from a musical family, Friedman always imagined she’d get involved in theatre. But her triumphs have come offstage rather than on it, as the outstanding producer of her generation. Commercially savvy, she also has major critical credibility — her shows (which include Book of Mormon, Chimerica and Merrily We Roll Along) claimed an extraordinary 14 Olivier awards this year.

Rufus NorrisNational Theatre, artistic director designateThe incoming artistic director of the National Theatre was a popular choice for the role. He formally takes over from Sir Nick Hytner next April. Norris trained as an actor and has a gift for innovative, collaborative projects. He also has a nascent film career, with London Road set to follow his acclaimed debut, Broken.

Vicky FeatherstoneRoyal Court, artistic director The Royal Court’s first female director is one of the most influential women in British theatre. And she’s been shaking things up in Sloane Square, uncovering new writers and creating a discussion programme under the title The Big Idea. Emerging talents Tim Price, Rory Mullarkey and Jack Thorne are among the writers to make their Royal Court debuts at her invitation.

Influential woman: Vicky Featherstone (Picture: Rebecca Reid)

Nick Starr

ProducerThe workaholic Starr stepped down from the National Theatre as executive director in August to set up his own company with long-time artistic collaborator Nick Hytner and will formally launch it next year, with plans for ambitious commercial productions. He once toiled in the NT’s press office and is credited with driving its huge commercial success for more than a decade.

Sir Nicholas HytnerDirectorThe urbane Hytner will leave the National Theatre next spring, after 12 years in charge. On his watch the theatre has been radically remodelled and includes the fabulous new Dorfman space. It has also become more inclusive, thanks to smart initiatives such as the cut-price Travelex tickets scheme and NT Live. Hytner’s next challenge is a new company with his NT colleague Nick Starr.

Lord Lloyd-WebberComposer and theatre ownerThere’s a Lloyd Webber revival at the moment, after Evita opened in the West End in September and with Cats set to return in December. But the phenomenally successful composer and impresario retains his appetite for penning new work, most recently the politically charged Stephen Ward.

Sir Cameron MackintoshImpresario and theatre ownerThe recent return of Miss Saigon, 25 years after its premiere, is a potent reminder of Sir Cameron’s peerless record as a producer. He has also bought two new London venues, increasing his portfolio to nine. His effervescent enthusiasm for all aspects of the theatre business never flags.

Michael GrandageDirectorThe popular ex-actor, who only turned to directing in his thirties, ran the Donmar Warehouse for a decade. Since then he has mounted a quintet of starry productions in the West End, and now he’s set to shoot his first film, Genius, with a stellar cast that includes Nicole Kidman and Jude Law.

Josie RourkeDonmar Warehouse, artistic director Nearly three years into her tenure at this chic Covent Garden venue, Rourke and Donmar general manager Kate Pakenham continue to attract star names such as Tom Hiddleston while also reviving modern classics. She has a hinterland beyond theatre — when she staged internet snooping play Privacy and interviewed Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger about it — and some wonder if she has her eye on a political career in the future.

Martin FreemanActorNEW ENTRYEmmy-winning Dr Watson in TV’s Sherlock and Bilbo Baggins on the big screen, Freeman made a welcome return to theatre as Richard III in the West End. With more Sherlock and Hobbit action to come, his stage opportunities may be limited, but he can be sure of having introduced a whole new audience to Shakespeare.

Kevin SpaceyOld Vic, artistic director and actor The double Oscar winner and star of Netflix’s House of Cards has run the Old Vic for a decade. He recently celebrated his 10th anniversary there with the solo show Clarence Darrow — and left anxious fans hoping this wasn’t his farewell to the London stage. He steps down as artistic director next year.

Helen McCroryActressPut in a forceful appearance as Medea in Euripides’s tragedy at the National as she returned to her roots as a classical stage actor. Married to Homeland star Damian Lewis, they are a formidable thespian double act. She will soon be seen in series two of Peaky Blinders.

Matthew WarchusDirectorNEW ENTRYHe has landed the coveted role of artistic director of The Old Vic but won’t succeed Kevin Spacey, whom he directed in Speed-the-Plow, until autumn 2015. Warchus has been wowing film audiences as director of Pride, a feelgood Britflick about gay and lesbian activists who backed the miners during the strikes in the Eighties. His previous stage hits Boeing-Boeing and Matilda augur well.

Nick PaynePlaywrightNEW ENTRYThe youngest winner of the Evening Standard award for Best Play (with Constellations) at the age of 29, Payne is an ambitious writer who likes to tackle intellectually knotty subjects. He has gone on to pen Incognito and The Art of Dying, and he’s also branched out into TV, writing two episodes of new drama The Secrets.

Oliver ChrisActorNEW ENTRYSuave and tall, this Kent native has a growing fanbase. A TV regular, who got his break in The Office, he is a natural comedian. He can currently be seen in King Charles III in the West End and will star next year in a revival of Patrick Marber’s Closer.

Lydia WilsonActressNEW ENTRYA rising star who has the knack of being almost unrecognisable from one part to the next, Wilson stumbled into acting after an art foundation course and a first-class degree at Cambridge. She can currently be seen as the Duchess of Cambridge in King Charles III in the West End.

Gemma ArtertonActressFrom Gravesend, Arterton is a glamorous yet genuinely down-to-earth star who this year opened the new Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe, playing the Duchess of Malfi, and is leading the cast of West End musical Made in Dagenham.

Down-to-earth star: Gemma Arterton (Picture: Getty)

Sam Mendes

DirectorThe versatile, cricket-loving Mendes made his name in the theatre, before launching a stellar movie career (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, Skyfall and the forthcoming Bond 24). But with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and more recently a much-admired King Lear, the former Mr Kate Winslet has made a welcome return to his first love.

Mark RylanceActorThis year the wonderfully mercurial Rylance won a Tony award (his third) for his performance as Olivia in Twelfth Night. Though first and foremost a stage talent, he’s Thomas Cromwell in the BBC’s upcoming adaptation of Wolf Hall and will appear in a new Steven Spielberg movie set during the Cold War.

James GrahamPlaywrightNEW ENTRYEmerging as a strong contender to be the outstanding political playwright of his generation, the 32-year-old from Mansfield followed up his brilliant This House with the topical, fast-moving Privacy at the Donmar Warehouse. His skills are increasingly in demand — with a wealth of film projects now lined up.

Rory KinnearActor Winner of the Olivier award for best actor earlier this year (for his Iago opposite Adrian Lester’s Othello), the 36-year-old is often described as the leading stage talent of his generation. He is also a playwright and a screen star — appearing in the Bond films and TV’s Penny Dreadful.

Stephen DaldryDirectorFor most of the Noughties it seemed that the theatre had lost the former boss of the Royal Court to cinema (Billy Elliot, The Hours, The Reader). But last year’s smash hit The Audience was followed this summer by Skylight, raising hopes of a sustained return to the stage.

Indhu RubasinghamTricycle Theatre, artistic directorSince taking charge of this Kilburn venue two years ago, the optimistic and likeable Rubasingham has scored several successes — with the award-winning Red Velvet and, more recently, Moira Buffini’s play Handbagged. A £5 million revamp is now her top priority.

Madani YounisBush Theatre, artistic directorThe 34-year-old boss of the Bush is determined to make theatre that reflects Britain’s cultural diversity. A year ago the Watford-born director won the Groucho Club’s Maverick award, reflecting his growing status as a thought-provoking voice in the London arts scene.

Carrie CracknellDirectorThis former artistic director of West London’s Gate theatre is a creative talent increasingly in demand. This year she’s had shows at the National Theatre (Medea, Blurred Lines) and the Royal Court (Birdland), as well as taking her superb version of A Doll’s House to Broadway.

Nica BurnsTheatre ownerPassionate about the buildings she owns, Burns was devastated by the collapse of part of the ceiling at the Apollo in December. But the theatre reopened in March and the Nimax chief executive has bounced back, as businesslike and enthusiastic as ever. Calls everyone “darling”.

Edward HallHampstead Theatre, artistic directorHampstead goes from strength to strength under the buoyant Hall (son of Sir Peter, half-brother of Rebecca). Recent West End transfers include Good People and the musical Sunny Afternoon, while the theatre’s intimate “downstairs” space allows Hall to maintain a strong commitment to new writing.

Rupert GooldThe Almeida, artistic directorSince taking over at this elegant Islington venue last year, the handsomely coiffed director has scored a string of successes with shows such as King Charles III and American Psycho. At his own theatre he has also shown a willingness to programme really audacious shows — such as Little Revolution and Mr Burns.

Simon Russell BealeActorThis scholarly, charming actor comes from a military background and has brought a wonderful mix of discipline and humanity to his varied stage career. His stunning King Lear at the National Theatre was the latest in a long line of richly fruitful collaborations with director Sam Mendes.

David LanYoung Vic, artistic directorThe serious, tough-minded Lan has made this venue near Waterloo one of the most vibrant theatres in the world, a playground for exceptional directors and performers. Now he’s also set to work part-time as a consulting artistic director for the new arts complex at New York’s Ground Zero.

Matthew Byam ShawProducerThe latest coup for this popular producer was buying the stage rights for Hilary Mantel’s award-winning novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. The adaptations have been blockbusters — continuing an impressive run for Byam Shaw, whose past hits have included Frost/Nixon and The Audience

Lenny HenryActorThe former comedian has done an impressive job of transforming himself into a serious stage performer. Earlier this year he won the Critics’ Circle best actor award (for his lead role in the play Fences) and he continues to campaign vigorously for greater racial diversity in the arts, telling Bafta there is an “appalling” lack of people from ethnic minority backgrounds on stage and screen.

Funny man: Lenny Henry (Picture: Tristan Fewings/Getty)

Matt SmithActorThe former Doctor Who made an acclaimed and welcome return to the stage in American Psycho, after cutting his teeth in the theatre in That Face and The History Boys. TV stardom means Smith is sought-after, and cinema beckons in parody Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Sir David HareWriterThis high-minded political writer (and husband of designer and sculptor Nicole Farhi) shows no sign of reducing his prolific output. A revival of his 1995 play Skylight has just finished and his latest play, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, based on a book set in a Mumbai slum, opens at the National Theatre in November.

Sir Richard EyreDirectorThe tireless former National Theatre boss is an incisive critic of dumbing down and continues, in his seventies, to direct a remarkable variety of work — from an award-winning new version of Ibsen’s Ghosts to high-kicking musicals and quirky modern masterpieces.

Gregory DoranRoyal Shakespeare Company, artistic directorThe reliably enthusiastic Doran is a passionate Shakespearean and has been associated with the RSC for almost 30 years. He has committed to ambitious plans in both Stratford and London. He forms a significant power couple with partner Antony Sher.

Cillian MurphyActorNEW ENTRYThe Irish star of BBC2’s Peaky Blinders and 28 Days Later, famed for his piercing blue eyes, has a fruitful relationship with playwright Enda Walsh. He has just starred at the National Theatre in Walsh’s Ballyturk.

Ben PowerPlaywright and dramaturgNEW ENTRYSince being appointed to oversee the National Theatre’s temporary Shed space, the youthful Power has injected real excitement into artistic life on the South Bank. Keenly interested in exploring new forms, he’s an inventive and well-connected talent who serves as a dramaturg — effectively the NT’s literary editor.

Blanche McIntyreDirectorNEW ENTRYMcIntyre won largely positive notices for her debut at Shakespeare’s Globe last month with The Comedy of Errors. Describes herself on Twitter as “director, writer, professional smartarse”. Has been tipped as a potential artistic director at a leading theatre ever since she was named most promising newcomer at the 2011 Critics’ Circle awards.

Sean HolmesLyric Hammersmith, artistic directorThe affable Holmes has re-established the Lyric as a place for vivid new writing, while running its £16.5 million redevelopment. His ongoing Secret Theatre project is an attempt to introduce youthful vitality into the London arts world.

Tom HiddlestonActorThe star of Thor and the upcoming Crimson Peak made a magnificent return to theatre when he played Shakespeare’s Coriolanus at the Donmar. As an associate actor at Southampton’s Nuffield Theatre, he looks set to grace the stage again soon.

Carey MulliganActressIn June the star of films such as Drive and The Great Gatsby made a much-praised return to the stage in David Hare’s Skylight. Married to musician Marcus Mumford, she is typically portrayed as sweet but has a striking affection for playing dark characters.

Lyndsey TurnerDirectorNEW ENTRYThe publicity-shy director’s career recently received a boost as she won multiple awards for her visionary production of Chimerica. She’s since worked with Rebecca Hall on Broadway, and next summer she will direct Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet — possibly the ticket of the year.

Jamie LloydDirectorNEW ENTRYHe has done a brilliant job of shaking up Whitehall’s Trafalgar Studios with a string of zesty productions — most recently a gory Richard III. He’s also at the helm of the gleefully strange musical Urinetown, which recently transferred to the West End’s Apollo.

Nadia FallDirectorNEW ENTRYA skilful director of ensemble work, Fall made her name on productions at the National Theatre. She devised Home, the best piece so far to grace the National’s Shed space, and is increasingly sought-after.

Alex JenningsActorNEW ENTRYHe has lit up the London stage as Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — just as he carried off a very different role as Alan Bennett in Untold Stories. Known for his versatility, Jennings is the only performer to have won an Olivier award in the drama, musical and comedy categories.

Kristin Scott ThomasActressEnglish rose who has lived for years in Paris, she returned to grace the stage with a bold performance in Electra at The Old Vic this autumn. Her movie credits range from Four Weddings and a Funeral to The English Patient. “I cannot cope with another film,” she said, after making 65 over three decades.

Dance

Tamara Rojo English National Ballet, artistic director and dancerNot only an incredible ballerina but also the artistic director of ENB, combining ballet shoes and the boardroom with apparent ease. Shaking up the company’s image and repertoire, she brought ENB bang into the 21st century this year with a programme of new commissions from leading contemporary choreographers.

Kevin O’HareRoyal Ballet, artistic directorThe departure of two of its leading ballerinas might leave some companies struggling, but not Kevin O’Hare’s Royal Ballet, which bounced back from that particular glitch with exciting new signings of its own and an ongoing commitment to quality in new and old work. O’Hare, a former dancer who took over in 2012, was seen as a “safe choice” but it is one that has been justified.

Wayne McGregorChoreographerAt the forefront of the interface between dance and science for a decade, the R-Research branch of McGregor’s company Random has worked with neuroscientists and heart specialists, contributing to scientific research as well as innovation on stage. An inveterate collaborator, McGregor has worked with Audrey Niffenegger, Gareth Pugh, Mark Ronson and Ben Frost, and the company has plans to open an interdisciplinary arts space in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Alistair SpaldingSadler’s Wells, artistic director and chief executiveThe Islington venue goes from strength to strength under the assured direction of Spalding. London’s largest organisation solely dedicated to dance has plans afoot to add to the existing three spaces Sadler’s Wells manages with a fourth mid-scale venue in London, increasing the range of dance available to audiences in the capital.

Natalia OsipovaRoyal Ballet, principal dancer NEW ENTRYProbably the most exciting ballerina in the world right now. When the ex-Bolshoi dancer left Russia she could have gone anywhere she wanted, but she chose London. The intense and diminutive Osipova has dazzling virtuoso technique, but it’s her interpretation of character and emotion that’s really jaw-dropping, bringing new life to the abstract work of Wayne McGregor for starters. Fans believe there is more to come.

Christopher WheeldonChoreographerReviving the art of the full-length story ballet almost single-handedly, Wheeldon’s ballet of The Winter’s Tale was the success of the spring season. Beyond the Royal Ballet, he is starting work on his first Broadway outing, An American in Paris, which will open next year. He recently married his partner Ross Rayburn on the beach at Fire Island, New York.

Matthew Bourne Artistic Director New Adventures The Walthamstow lad, who spent his youth riding the 38 bus into town to collect autographs in the West End, didn’t take his first proper dance class until the age of 22 but went on to become Britain’s most successful choreographer, most famously with his all-male version of Swan Lake. After 25 years, his company New Adventures was finally awarded National Portfolio Status from the Arts Council this year.

Edward WatsonRoyal Ballet, principal dancer NEW ENTRYA shape-shifting ballet dancer with an incredible physical plasticity, Watson is as at home playing a prince as he is a man turned giant bug (in Arthur Pita’s take on Kafka’s Metamorphosis). A very modern ballet dancer, the Bromley-born 38-year-old is currently our best British male and has a National Dance Award and an Olivier to prove it.

Emma Gladstone Dance Umbrella, artistic directorA former dancer, Gladstone has excelled in her second career as a producer, and this autumn is taking over as artistic director of Dance Umbrella, London’s longest running dance festival. With a renewed commitment to showcasing international work unseen in the UK and developing artists working at the most interesting edges of choreography she’s sure to have an impact on London’s dance scene and beyond.

Mark BaldwinRambert, artistic directorNEW ENTRYAs director of Britain’s oldest dance company, Rambert, Fiji-born Baldwin oversaw the company’s long-planned move into a new HQ on the Southbank, putting contemporary dance at the centre of London’s cultural life. The £19 million building, designed by Allies and Morrison, won an architectural award from Riba. Baldwin is also the choreographic force behind one of the autumn’s most interesting cross-cultural collaborations, Inala, working with South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Caroline MillerDance UK, directorHelen LawsNational Institute of Dance, Medicine and Science managerNEW ENTRYAs director of advocacy organisation Dance UK, Miller has long lobbied for better healthcare for dancers. Now she has launched the National Institute of Dance, Medicine and Science, managed by Helen Laws, who brought together partners from dance, medicine and science to improve the care and knowledge of dancers’ health, recognising that the level of research and care should be in line with that accorded to elite athletes.

Film

Sacha Baron CohenActor and directorNEW ENTRYSome say this Cambridge-educated north Londoner is the finest comic actor of his generation. Having insulted everyone from Austria to Kazakhstan, Cohen (aka Ali G, Borat and Brüno) has spent recent years acting in America. But now he has found Grimsby. Hackles are rising: the Lincolnshire town will get all the grief but none of the cash, since the eponymous movie is actually being shot in London and Essex.

Josh BergerWarner Bros UK, Ireland and Spain presidentThe Hollywood studio has made a major commitment to the UK under Berger. Plans for a big expansion of Leavesden Studios — home to Harry Potter — were announced in June, followed by Berger being awarded a CBE for services to the creative industries. The American has made Britain his home and is justly proud that Oscar-winning space epic Gravity was made in London.

Gareth EdwardsDirectorNEW ENTRYYou can make sci-fi movies on the cheap, as Gareth Edwards did with his spellbinding Monsters (2010); you can make them for megabucks, as he did with this year’s Godzilla. But few film-makers make the transition so successfully and intelligently. Born in Warwickshire, he is now working towards Godzilla 2 and a Star Wars spin-off.

Amanda BerryBafta, chief executiveHeading the UK equivalent to the Hollywood Academy for a decade and a half, Berry has transformed Bafta from a Piccadilly club into a major film industry focus, while the annual gongs, once a largely local event, have gone global. Book your place on the sofa for the 2015 awards in February.

Benedict CumberbatchActorIn just four years, he has gone from being an unusual name to a ubiquitous presence on film, TV and stage. True, he has been in the business for more than a decade, but what was a trickle is now a flood: the voice of Smaug in the Hobbit, JG Ballard adaptation High-Rise, Alan Turing in The Imitation Game and a stage Hamlet in 2015. Has big female fan club, known as the Cumberbitches, thanks to his star turns on TV in Sherlock (an Emmy this year) and Parade’s End.

Sir William SargentFramestore, co-founderNEW ENTRYSargent set up the Soho visual effects company in 1986 but things can rarely have been better after Framestore’s work on Gravity swept the Oscars. Self-effacing and smart, Sargent has sold a minority stake to Malaysian investors. Close to Whitehall and has advised the Treasury — not least on the precious tax breaks that have benefited the VFX business.

Tim BevanEric FellnerProducersHaving won ample awards for Les Mis and Rush, the Working Title pair have kept a low profile of late. But they are set to scale new heights when their 3D production of Everest leaves base camp next February, closely followed by Billy Elliot, the movie of the musical of the film.

Dame Judi DenchActressThe Bondmeisters may have killed her off in Skyfall but there is no sign of retirement for Dame Judi, who turns 80 in December. She bounced right back with her acclaimed Philomena, which yet again showed her Premier League status as one of our most eminently exportable stars. Out next year will be the sequel to 2011 popular hit The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Chiwetel EjioforActorHow he missed out on an Oscar in the gong-fest that was 12 Years a Slave remains a mystery. But Ejiofor has been showing his big-screen versatility for more than a decade with dramas such as Dirty Pretty Things, rom-coms (Love, Actually) and TV series (Dancing on the Edge). He recently put his name behind the Nigeria-UK co-production Half of a Yellow Sun.

Big-screen star: Chiwetel Ejiofor (Picture: Getty)

Steve McQueen

DirectorBritish artists are more and more frequently turning to narrative film-making, and none more strikingly than former Turner Prize-winner McQueen. Garlanded with Oscars, his 12 Years a Slave will be a hard act to follow. For the time being, no word on what’s next, although a biopic about Fela Kuti was once mooted. But you can bet producers are beating a path to his door.

Andy SerkisActorNEW ENTRYHe is the best-known British actor least likely to be recognised on the street, since his highest-profile work has been in a motion-capture suit, most recently in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and before that as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. He’s in the next Star Wars, but is so far doing a good job of not revealing as who — or what.

Daniel CraigActorThe upside: he’s clearly become the 007 for this generation, shunning smartass dialogue for a brooding and very watchable intensity. The downside: a broader movie career, which was building nicely, remains on hold. But, since you ask, Bond 24, directed by Sam Mendes, will be out at the end of 2015.

Timothy SpallActorNEW ENTRYFrom Barry in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet to Churchill in The King’s Speech, he’s been delighting us for 35 years. But the rest of the world is catching on to his genius, confirmed by the Best Actor gong at Cannes for his portrayal of JM Turner in Mike Leigh’s soon to be released film, expressing a huge range of emotions through a series of sighs and grunts.

Nick ParkAnimatorPark is the king of making things out of Plasticine. He has also made a substantial contribution to the UK’s GDP at Aardman’s animation studios. Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and The Pirates, plus TV spin-off Shaun the Sheep, are just some of his credits. A new Wallace & Gromit movie is promised, while a W&G exhibition had them queueing round the block in Bristol this summer.

Helena Bonham CarterActressTim BurtonDirectorHe has been keeping his head down finishing up Big Eyes, a biopic about painter Margaret Keane due out at Christmas. She has been visiting with the Camerons and filming Suffragette with Carey Mulligan and Meryl Streep. But the couple are being reunited in Alice sequel The Red Queen, which has started shooting and is due out next summer.

Idris ElbaActorThe Nelson Mandela biopic didn’t have the expected impact, but Elba remains a sci-fi favourite with Prometheus, Pacific Rim and Thor. He is thankfully returning to the real world, playing a psychotic American convict in No Good Deed, and, further down the track, is in local London family drama A Hundred Streets, which started shooting in the summer.

Colin FirthActorFrom Mr Darcy to The King’s Speech, he is indisputably leading man material. But he is also cinema’s Teflon man, emerging unscathed from disasters such as the Gambit remake and Arthur Newman (aka Arthur and Mike) which took a year to reach here, then promptly disappeared. Woody Allen’s Magic in the Moonlight was a flop but he’s also in Before I Go to Sleep, with Nicole Kidman and Mark Strong.

Michael FassbenderActorFor anyone else, two movies as different as Frank and X-Men opening within a few weeks would count as busy. But for the German-born Londoner, it’s almost a lull. And there are four more films in the immediate pipeline, including US frontier drama Slow West; Macbeth, with Marion Cotillard; and a Terrence Malick project which is just as untitled now as it was last year.

Andrew GarfieldActorThe LA-born, UK-bred actor first entered this list when Robert Redford cast him in the well-meaning but listless Lions for Lambs. He’s since done sterling service in Red Riding, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Never Let Me Go and The Social Network — not to mention all that web-spinning over Manhattan in the latest two (so far) Spider-Man movies, which have put him back in the top tier.

Jane GoldmanWriter and producerNEW ENTRYThere is no one quite like Goldman, aka Mrs Jonathan Ross, for nailing the post-modern super-hero flick with her work on Kick-Ass, X-Men First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past. Next up sees the method being applied to a spy thriller — Kingsman: The Secret Service, which stars Mark Hamill, Samuel L Jackson and Colin Firth.

Rebecca HallActressHard to believe it’s eight years since Hall first grabbed attention in Starter for 10. Since then, she’s been in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Frost/Nixon, Parade’s End (on TV), plus blockbusters Iron Man 3 and Transcendence. And the stage still plays a big part in her life, through father Sir Peter and her current partner, director Sam Mendes, as much as her star turns.

Tom HardyActorNEW ENTRYAfter the difficult years following his breakthrough performance in Star Trek: Nemesis, Hardy has fought his way back — his role in The Dark Knight Rises winning the ultimate accolade of an extended parody by Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon in The Trip to Italy. With a new Mad Max completed, Hardy will next play both Kray twins in the upcoming Legend.

Felicity JonesActressNEW ENTRYFor so long the girl “most likely to”, Jones has finally made it in the past 18 months, combining US indie roles such as Breathe In with The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Next is Stephen Hawking’s wife Jane in The Theory of Everything, followed by a flood of films, including talk of playing a young Queen Elizabeth in 60-hour Netflix drama The Crown, which is planned to cover the whole royal reign.

Keira KnightleyActressStill not yet 30, she has spent more than a lifetime in movies. Our top young female A-lister has finally drawn a line under growing up in public, appropriately enough with a film called Begin Again. Next up is Laggies, an American romcom, followed by Bletchley Park-set thriller The Imitation Game. Mountaineering drama Everest starts shooting later this year.

Christine LanganHead of BBC FilmsLangan has kept the quality flag flying at BBC Films while so many other parts of Auntie droop at half-mast. Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie has kept the cash coming in over the summer; Shakespeare biopic Bill will take care of the culture next spring; and for everyone else there’s this autumn’s ebullient Pride.

Jude LawActorIn between giving evidence to the phone-hacking inquiry, Law has managed to keep the day job going, with a cameo in The Grand Budapest Hotel, gangland thriller Dom Hemingway, and submarine drama Black Sea (out early next year). Oh, and he shows a nifty pair of heels in a certain Johnnie Walker commercial.

Mike LeighDirectorHe’s done it before with Topsy-Turvy (about Gilbert and Sullivan) but Leigh, so long a miniaturist of contemporary British life, should splash out more often if the result is anything like the sumptuous period drama Mr Turner. Honest, unflinching, witty, Leigh has lost none of his zest for film-making as a septuagenarian.

Ken LoachDirectorHaving announced his retirement after this summer’s Jimmy’s Hall — about an Irish communist who used his dance hall as a revolutionary recruiting centre — the 78-year-old Loach has recently been saying he’s not sure he meant it after all. Let’s hope not: who better to direct the Julian Assange story, which he has reportedly optioned? Won plaudits for backing Ritzy cinema staff in Brixton in their fight with management over the London Living Wage.

Shane MeadowsDirectorIn a scant 15 years, the Midlands-born Meadows has gone from discovery to being the yardstick against which new discoveries are measured (as in “Is this the new Shane Meadows?”). His gritty films, documentaries and TV series have influenced a generation, with This Is England 90 filming this year for transmission in 2015.

Sienna MillerActressAll power to Miller who has survived the paparazzi and being phone-hacked without getting too burned and remains a first-rate screen actress. If only she could get another role like Edie Sedgwick in Factory Girl or Caitlin Thomas in The Edge of Love. Fingers crossed for director Ben Wheatley’s JG Ballard adaptation High-Rise, which started shooting in July.

Carol MorleyWriter and directorNEW ENTRYThe irrepressible Morley wooed the arthouse crowd with Dreams of a Life, her tender but devastating recreation of a lonely death, and is aiming higher with The Falling, the story of a mass fainting epidemic at an all-girl’s school in 1969. Greta Scacchi and Maxine Peake head the adult cast. Expect something unique from Stockport-born Morley.

Amanda NevillBritish Film Institute, chief executiveFrom being an insular organisation, the BFI has become, under seasoned arts administrator Nevill, an on-message machine, handling all aspects of film culture — with, it has to be said, a lot more success than the UK Film Council, which it replaced.

Mark StrongActorNEW ENTRYHe hails from an Italian family (he was born Marco) and has a penchant for playing dark, enigmatic villains — think Kick-Ass and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. He was raw and passionate on stage in Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge at the Young Vic. Next up, he is in Matthew Vaughn’s hot film Kingsman.

Richard AyoadeActor and directorHis is a career that refuses to follow the rules: from Cambridge Footlights via TV comedy and music videos to directing (Submarine), then acting in a Hollywood comedy (The Watch) and a delayed directorial follow-up with Dostoevsky adaptation The Double. This autumn, Ayoade is also among the voice talents in animated blockbuster The Boxtrolls.

Clio BarnardWriter and directorVisual artist turned filmmaker Clio (rhymes with “sky-o”) Barnard followed experimental film The Arbor with The Selfish Giant, which won rave reviews at Cannes last year. She is currently mulling projects, including adaptations of Rose Tremain’s The Trespass and Polly Stenham’s play Tusk Tusk. But whatever she does will be worth watching.

Jamie BellActorNEW ENTRYFrom ballet dancer to hard man: 15 years on from Billy Elliot, Bell now seems to swing from blockbusters (Tintin) to out-there arthouse (Nymphomaniac). Separated from wife Evan Rachel Wood, he is currently bulking up for The Fantastic Four, due out next summer, in which he plays Ben Grimm, the man of rock.

Jack O’ConnellActorNEW ENTRYAt just 24, O’Connell has almost a decade of TV behind him — including two series of Skins — but his most attention-grabbing film roles have come this year: prison drama Starred Up and Belfast-set ’71. 2015 promises Unbroken (about Olympic runner and Japanese POW Louis Zamperini) and Tulip Fever from the novel by Deborah Moggach.

Imogen PootsActressNEW ENTRYA rising star, maybe this will be the year for Poots, 25, who has impressed in a number of supporting roles, notably as Soho baron Paul Raymond’s daughter in The Look of Love and as the manic Jess in A Long Way Down. Raised in west London, she has also modelled for Chloé and H&M.

Dan StevensActorThe floppy-haired star made his name in Downton Abbey but bravely walked away from the security of the hit TV series to reinvent himself successfully in cinema, taking on challenging roles in journalism drama The Fifth Estate and indie flick The Guest. A Night At The Museum sequel is next.

Simon PeggActor and writerPegg, who made his name with capers Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, is in search of the next big thing after The World’s End failed to hit the same heights. He is busy with an Aussie thriller (Kill Me Three Times) and an adaptation of a bestselling French novel, Hector and the Search for Happiness, came out in August.

Emily BluntActressThis summer saw Blunt get equal billing with Tom Cruise in sci-fi epic Edge of Tomorrow. Next she teams up again with Johnny Depp in Into the Woods, a “modern twist” on Little Red Riding Hood, shot at Shepperton and due out in America on Christmas Day — a sign of her growing box-office pulling power.

Screen star: actress Emily Blunt

Robert PattinsonActorFollowing David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis, R-Patz continues to hedge his bets. In Cannes, he combined auteur film Maps to the Stars (Cronenberg again) with action thriller The Rover. The role that could make or break the boy from Barnes (who is now dating singer FKA twigs) as a serious actor — Werner Herzog’s Queen of the Desert, in which he plays TE Lawrence to Nicole Kidman’s Gertrude Bell — is still in post.

Max IronsActorNEW ENTRYThe son of Jeremy Irons and Sinéad Cusack is on the rise after appearing in Oxford toff-thug hit The Riot Club alongside another scion of thespian royalty, Freddie Fox, son of Edward. The smouldering, athletic former model starred in BBC drama The White Queen but is anxious to prove himself on his own merits and dismisses the idea of acting with his parents, saying he “can’t see any appeal in that”.

Daniel RadcliffeActorThere is life after Harry Potter. Beat Generation biopic Kill Your Darlings was a little half-hearted, but there’s plenty more to look forward to: Horns, out next month, in which said appendages suddenly grow out of Radcliffe’s head; a Frankenstein remake (he plays Igor to James McAvoy’s mad scientist); a Judd Apatow comedy called Trainwreck; and Brooklyn Bridge about… well, the Brooklyn Bridge.

Nik PowellNational Film & Television School, directorPartnered first with Sir Richard Branson when they co-founded Virgin, then with Steve Woolley when they ran the maverick Palace Pictures, Powell has settled happily into running the NFTS. A natural communicator, he’s also turned out to be a pretty good representative of British cinema around the globe. Knighthoods have been given for less.

Adrian WoottonFilm London, chief executiveWootton has steered the tricky course between the Mayor’s office and No 10, encouraging film shoots to come to the capital and funding a number of low-budget first films and work by visual artists. Few on this list hold sway so confidently over quite so diverse a domain.

Tilda SwintonActressA uniquely talented actress, instantly recognisable but absolutely not a celeb. The past year has seen her play a vampire in Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive, a shrink in Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem and a dowager in The Grand Budapest Hotel. She is currently filming a Bigger Splash for Luca Guadagnino who directed her in I Am Love.

Clare StewartBritish Film Institute, head of exhibitionsShe had big shoes to fill when she took over the London Film Festival from the much-loved Sandra Hebron but if Stewart was nervous, she hid it well. In three years, has made the event her — and the audience’s — own. Secured The Imitation Game, with Benedict Cumberbatch, about pioneering computer scientist and maths whizz Alan Turing for this year’s festival opener.

Juno TempleActressHer breakthrough role is just waiting to happen. She was mesmerising as the disturbed Alicia in Magic Magic, but the film didn’t make much of a splash. She was in Maleficent and in the Sin City sequel, and has Far From the Madding Crowd out next year — as Fanny. Director Julien Temple is her father.

Ruth WilsonActressEqually at home on the stage, TV and the big screen, Wilson was nominated for a Bafta and a Golden Globe for Jane Eyre back in 2007. More recent key roles include Anna Christie on the stage, Luther on TV and The Lone Ranger, Saving Mr Banks and Locke at the cinema. Next up is Second World War drama Suite Française later this year.

Eddie RedmayneActorEton and Cambridge-educated Redmayne, 32, is the youngest of a generation of English “posh boy” movie stars. He’s still best known for Les Mis, but he was excellent in TV mini-series Birdsong and as the young Colin Clark in My Week With Marilyn. Soon to grab the limelight is his Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. Older half-brother Charlie runs media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s book publisher HarperCollins.

Douglas BoothActorNEW ENTRYWinchester-educated Booth is making the transition from TV (Pip in Great Expectations) to the big screen, embracing both high culture (Romeo in a modern-day Romeo & Juliet) to inflated epic (boss’s son Shem in Noah). This autumn saw him play a member of a posh boy’s influential Oxford drinking establishment in The Riot Club (fictional, of course).

Jeremy ThomasProducerThomas is Britain’s most committed producer of auteur movies. Bernardo Bertolucci, Wim Wenders, Jerzy Skolimowski, Terry Gilliam, Jim Jarmusch and Jonathan Glazer all owe him a debt, as do many younger filmmakers. He currently has The Tale of Tales from Matteo (Gomorrah) Garrone and Ben Wheatley’s Ballard adaptation High-Rise in production.

Rosamund PikeActressNEW ENTRYA serene and demure one-time James Bond star (in Die Another Day), she has developed into a surprisingly versatile and accomplished actress. She is winning plaudits for her turn in Hollywood director David Fincher’s recent thriller Gone Girl, which some say is her best role yet — after Made In Dageham and An Education.

Ben WheatleyDirectorOne of the most distinctive directors to emerge in the past decade, he can create shock and awe, most recently with A Field in England and Sightseers. But how will he get on with an adaptation of JG Ballard’s High-Rise and a superstar cast that includes names such as Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller and Elisabeth Moss?

Fabien RiggallSecret Cinema, founderRiggall has pioneered a whole new genre — event-type screenings of cult movies for dressed-up audiences. With tickets costing upwards of £50, this is cinema-going as a live experience with six-figure sums spent on huge temporary sets and special effects to recreate the original film. Logistical problems forced him to postpone this summer’s Back to the Future extravaganza, but when it finally happened it lived up to the hype.

Artists & curators

Conrad ShawcrossSculptorDashing Shawcross, the son of two writers, is known for his use of industrial materials and lighting to create striking abstract sculptures. One of the youngest members of the Royal Academy, he created a giant clock, called Timepiece, in Chalk Farm’s Roundhouse, created the centrepiece of the new Greenwich Peninsular development and his work featured in the Hayward Gallery’s celebrated Light Show exhibition, which is now touring the world. Shawcross says proudly his work has a “slightly home-made quality”.

Sir Nicholas SerotaTate directorWhile his peers like Sandy Nairne at the NPG and Nicholas Penny at the National are leaving their roles, Serota has a relentless energy, even finding time amid fundraising for Tate Modern’s increasingly impressive-looking £215 million extension to curate the summer’s biggest hit exhibition, Matisse: The Cut-Outs on Bankside. Serota, director since 1988, will be 70 when Tate Modern 2 opens in 2016.

Matthew SlotoverAmanda SharpFrieze, foundersAll-conquering art fair impresarios who have made the Frieze brand as essential in New York as it is in London — partly because of their keen eye for new trends. Ahead of this year’s Frieze London fair, they stepped back from their hands-on duties and promoted Victoria Siddall to director.

Victoria SiddallFrieze London, directorSuch has been thirtysomething Siddall’s calm, assured role at art fair Frieze that founders Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp made her the director and boss in September. She proved herself two years ago when she launched a spin-off “grown-up” fair, Frieze Masters, for art from antiquity to the year 2000. The first was a phenomenal success and the second built on that. Siddall is drawing even more heavyweight galleries to Regent’s Park this year.

Julia Peyton-JonesSerpentine Gallery, directorHans Ulrich ObristSerpentine Gallery, co-director, exhibitions and programmesThe London art world’s most enterprising pair: Obrist the peripatetic, fast-talking Swiss theorist, Peyton-Jones the glamorous British rock at the heart of the gallery, a supreme fundraiser and underestimated curator. A year on from the opening of the Serpentine Sackler Gallery it’s as if it has always been there.

Neil MacGregorBritish Museum, directorA superb ambassador for the arts, he has presided over a 20 per cent surge in visitor numbers in 2013 at the BM, and has a rare gift for bringing antiquities to life as a broadcaster. He has expanded the museum with new galleries in its World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre. Ming: 50 Years That Changed China is now showing at the museum, while his series on German history is on Radio 4.

Charles Saumarez SmithRoyal Academy of Arts, chief executiveAs the Royal Academicians who run the RA gain a more contemporary look, with hip photographer Wolfgang Tillmans among the newest recruits, Saumarez Smith is overhauling its exhibitions approach, with new director Tim Marlow brought in from White Cube, as well as overseeing David Chipperfield’s transformation of the RA’s buildings. German artist Anselm Kiefer is the Academy’s autumn blockbuster.

Charles SaatchiCollectorHis gallery, which now draws 1.5 million visitors a year to its Chelsea home, is celebrating its 30th year as a global beacon for contemporary art. The Evening Standard columnist’s knack for buying art — and selling it at the right moment — shows no signs of diminishing. Tracey Emin’s My Bed, bought by Saatchi for £150,000 in 1999, sold for £2.2 million at auction in July.

Sir Peter BazalgetteArts Council, chairmanMade his name in TV, running Big Brother production company Endemol, but now he plays a big role in funding all the arts. Under him the Arts Council will have handed close to £2 billion to worthy causes from museums to theatre (Bazalgette used to chair the English National Opera) over five years by 2015. Keeps his hands in TV and advertising with roles on the boards of ITV and pollster YouGov.

Grayson PerryArtistOne of the country’s best-known artists beyond the art world. His status was confirmed by his Reith lectures last year and he has a second TV series this autumn: Who Are You? which explores British identity. Disgraced ex-politician Chris Huhne is among his sitters. Meanwhile, the self-styled “transvestite potter” regularly tweets from the Perry sofa alongside his psychotherapist wife Philippa.

Elizabeth PriceArtistNEW ENTRYWinner of the 2012 Turner Prize and the 2013 Contemporary Art Society award, Price has pioneered a cerebral and seductive video art which has gained an international presence and is proving hugely influential. The results of her £60,000 CAS award are shown at the Ashmolean next year.

Successful: artist Elizabeth Price

Mark LeckeyArtistThough not as much a household name as media darlings such as Grayson Perry and Damien Hirst, Leckey, a suave Merseysider, could claim to be Britain’s most influential artist. His reflections on media, technology and the power of pop culture have hugely affected young artists who ignore the YBAs. Leckey has big shows in Europe this autumn and next year.

Iwona BlazwickWhitechapel Gallery, directorAmong the most revered of gallery directors by budding curators and international colleagues alike, she marshals an impressive programme at the Whitechapel and champions the emerging and the overlooked in equal measure. Blazwick also sits on the board of the Fourth Plinth commissioning group and is chair of the Mayor’s London Cultural Strategy Group.

Chris HammondMOT International gallery, directorNEW ENTRYAt the helm of one of the most influential commercial galleries in the UK, famous for its integrity and forward-thinking ideas. The last two Turner Prize winners, Elizabeth Price and Laure Prouvost, were both represented by Hammond, who began MOT as an artist-run space in Hackney more than a decade ago.

Anita ZabludowiczZabludowicz Collection, co-founderProud Geordie Zabludowicz is one of the most prominent collectors and philanthropists on the UK art scene, alongside her Finnish husband Poju, who largely avoids the limelight. Zabludowicz has a strong track record for showing young talent, which she finds on the exhausting, jetsetting art trails she documents in an art diary on her website.

Chris DerconTate Modern, directorDirectors at Tate Modern are destined to be in Nicholas Serota’s shadow, but Dercon continues to oversee a dynamic international programme at the gallery, as well as help in the mammoth process of raising money for Tate Modern 2. Undoubtedly, the true test of the affable Belgian’s vision will be when that 22,500 sq m building opens in 2016. In the meantime, exhibitions of Alexander Calder and Agnes Martin await next year.

Margot HellerSouth London Gallery, directorNEW ENTRYConsistently pushing her gallery to punch above its weight, Heller brings the latest art to Camberwell — with a distinctly international flavour, from a recent group show of Iraqi artists to a show by Israeli-born Uri Aran. And she gets big hitters, too: this autumn, the gallery hosts the enigmatic text works of the legendary US conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner.

Laure ProuvostArtistNEW ENTRYA surprise winner of the Turner Prize last year, the London-based French video and installation artist charmed everyone by cradling her baby daughter on the podium. At the forefront of artists working across different media, as she proved with a show at the ultra-hip New Museum in New York earlier this year — and the exhibitions in Paris, Brussels, Naples, Mexico City and Berlin that followed it.

Joe ScotlandStudio Voltaire, directorNEW ENTRYBrilliant, entrepreneurial director has put this small Clapham gallery on the map and attracted support from the art-world elite. His House of Voltaire pop-up stores with limited edition artworks are inspired fundraisers for the gallery, and he recently launched its first kickstarter campaign to raise funds for performance artist Marvin Gaye Chetwynd’s latest work, which premiered this month.

Yuri PattisonArtistNEW ENTRYPart of trendy Peckham collective Lucky PDF, and key figure in the “post-internet” generation of artists in London. His latest project was a brilliant synthesis of archival data from the 1991 Russian coup, using a prototype for the internet, and intercepted communications between US soldier Bradley Manning and his confidant/betrayer.

Roger TatleyMarian Goodman Gallery London, directorNEW ENTRYA consistent presence on the UK art scene over the past decade, Tatley, a former art magazine editor, has the task of leading the London operation of the latest big-hitting US gallery to arrive in the West End. The gallery, in a David Adjaye-converted building in Golden Square, Soho, opened in time for the Frieze Art Fair in October.

Ben VickersSerpentine Gallery, curator of digitalNEW ENTRYThis dynamic young curator is the first dedicated digital art specialist in any of the major UK art galleries, but much more besides — he is at the forefront of new developments of online art and culture, behind the unMonastery, a fusion of a monastic order and hacker community, and a member of the think-tank Edgeryders. Outspoken and expert in his field, he is a keen tweeter.

Stephen DeucharThe Art Fund, directorThe Art Fund’s journey from a fusty but important organisation saving Britain’s heritage to a campaigning body for both historic and contemporary art in British life is reflected in their new HQ in the dynamic arts quarter in King’s Cross. Deuchar has led the organisation to double its membership in the past few years, and is outspoken on issues such as government cuts and the practice of museum “deaccessioning” — the removal or selling-off of items from a museum’s collection.

Jay JoplingWhite Cube galleries, ownerThe dapper old Etonian has paused for breath after the recent expansion of his empire into São Paulo and Hong Kong. But he continues to be among London’s premier art dealers, showing YBA veterans, emerging talent and key international figures such as Andreas Gursky and Christian Marclay. He has also invested in increasingly significant online auctioneer Paddle8, the company his partner Hikari Yokoyama helped him to set up.

Dasha ZhukovaCollector and gallery directorRoman Abramovich’s partner’s taste in art landed her in hot water earlier this year after she did a photo shoot inexplicably seated on the artist Bjarne Melgaard’s chair featuring a sexually subjugated black woman. Yet she and Abramovich are among London’s top collectors, and are a consistent presence on the UK art scene.

Sarah LucasArtistNEW ENTRYAs other Young British Artists of her generation drift into self-parody and comfortable middle age, Lucas retains her edge, and her uncompromising and bawdy work has made her the favourite YBA for many younger artists. She will occupy the British Pavilion in the art world’s most prestigious event, the Venice Biennale, next summer. Lives between Dalston and Benjamin Britten’s old house in Suffolk.

Penelope CurtisTate Britain, directorA year of mixed fortunes for Curtis, as her rehung and spruced-up gallery was shortlisted for the Art Fund’s Museum of the Year prize, but critics called for her head over the quality of her exhibition programme. There’s no doubt that Curtis has a big year ahead, but shows of Barbara Hepworth and Frank Auerbach in 2015 should help.

Polly StapleChisenhale Gallery, directorThe Chisenhale has long been an essential East End space for new art, but Staple, a former Frieze Art Fair curator, has nudged its relevance up a further notch. Repeatedly, artists shown here appear in museums in London — and across the world — within a couple of years. Quite simply, if you want to see where art’s heading, make for Chisenhale Road.

Ed AtkinsArtistWhile queues swelled at the Serpentine with visitors keen to be touched by the messianic performance artist Marina Abramović, over the bridge in the new Serpentine Sackler Gallery were Atkins’s fascinating HD videos, texts and photographs. Only four years out of art school, his rise has been startling and, this year alone, he has had shows in Zurich, Paris, Basel and Mainz as well as London.

Antony GormleyArtistHe found another spectacular setting for his multi-figure artworks this year — the Mardalsfossen waterfall, some 750 metres high, in Norway. He is also an advocate for the value of art in society, giving 100 prints to help raise funds for the Art Everywhere project, which places art on billboard sites. Wife Vicken Parsons also exhibited her paintings and sculpture this year.

Gregor MuirInstitute of Contemporary Arts, directorA confidant and chronicler of the YBAs who later became a Tate curator and commercial gallery director, Muir seems to have found his home at the ICA, where the programme is harking back to the institute’s radical early days. Among the key elements is an offsite programme, including events this autumn at the Old Selfridges Hotel.

Sadie ColesGalleristAt the core of the YBA explosion and still on top after 20 years, Coles has a new gallery near Carnaby Street, one of the most beautiful, day-lit spaces in London. Married to the photographer Juergen Teller, she continues to represent some of her original roster, including Sarah Lucas, but consistently shows new artists such as US painter Ryan Sullivan and Brazilian Adriano Costa.

Martha FiennesArtistNEW ENTRYSister of Ralph and Joseph, and initially a movie-maker, Fiennes has pioneered a new digital technology she calls SLOimage, and the first film she made using it, Nativity, appeared at the National Gallery this year. “I tentatively dare to suggest it might be a new medium,” she said.

Pioneer: Martha Fiennes (Picture: Rebecca Reid)

James LingwoodMichael MorrisArtangel, co-directorsEx-ICA curators Lingwood and Morris are among London’s most visionary curators. This year, they have produced Ryoji Ikeda’s magical Spectra, which sent a column of light into the sky to mark the centenary of World War I, and Saskia Olde Wolbers’s ghostly occupation of Van Gogh’s former home near Brixton. Artangel is a great British institution.

Henry WyndhamSotheby’s, chairmanKnown more for his prowess in auctions of the Old Masters, Wyndham took on modern art for the first time this year, and hammered down multi-million sales on Picasso and Matisse with the same aplomb. Sotheby’s announced a record increase in sales this year, but challenges still await — arch-competitor Christie’s is perceived as having the edge in the burgeoning field of online sales, so Sotheby’s has created a partnership with eBay.

Jussi PylkkänenChristie’s Europe, presidentSmooth Finn at the helm of the European operation of the ever-growing auction house. Regarded by many as the world’s best auctioneer, his prowess with the gavel was shown in May when he oversaw Christie’s post-war and contemporary art evening sales in New York, hammering down $879.5 million, the highest auction total in art market history.

Ralph RugoffHayward Gallery, directorJustifiably shortlisted for Museum of the Year this year, the Hayward is on a roll thanks to its quietly dynamic American leader, who combines an encyclopaedic knowledge of new art with a distinctly populist touch. The gallery’s summer exhibition, The Human Factor, dedicated to figurative art, was a triumph, and Mirrorcity, a show of 23 London artists, premiered this month.

Iwan WirthHauser & Wirth, presidentAlthough his latest gallery is in rural Somerset, and his Piccadilly gallery has closed, Wirth remains arguably the most powerful figure in the commercial art world in London, representing numerous key international artists — Mark Wallinger is the latest big name to join the Swiss’s gallery. Meanwhile, Wirth plans to develop an industrial quarter of Los Angeles into a vast arts centre.

Martin RothVictoria & Albert Museum, directorThe German must be bracing himself for the crowds when he unveils the V&A’s Alexander McQueen exhibition next year as he maintains the museum’s recent habit of staging big-hitting popular culture and fashion exhibitions. He’s also outspoken, recently lamenting design’s absence from the national curriculum in an article in the Evening Standard. He is overseeing the Exhibition Road Project to give a swanky new courtyard and entrance to the museum.

Holly WillatsArt Licks, directorNEW ENTRYThis young curator, the daughter of artist Stephen Willats, is behind the Art Licks Weekend, a festival of art events in October in south and east London. The festival features young artists, curators and collectives who she defines as “risk takers”, reflecting the art world outside the commercial gallery.

Literati

Charlie RedmayneHarperCollins, chief executiveSavvy media man who has impressed Rupert Murdoch’s top team. After a spell at BSkyB, he became digital director of Harper Collins, before quitting to launch online brand Pottermore for JK Rowling. Returned last year following the abrupt exit of Victoria Barnsley. Believes storytelling is key to successful publishing. His favourite author is Bernard Cornwell. Well-connected, he was at Eton with David Cameron, served in the Irish Guards and is the older half-brother of actor Eddie.

Tim Hely HutchinsonHachette Livre UK, chief executive.The Eton and Oxford-educated younger son of the Earl of Donoughmore has a reputation for backing bestsellers, from Donna Tartt to Robert Galbraith. His empire is growing, thanks to two buy-outs this year of indie publishers Constable & Robinson and Quercus, and is now all under one roof, in luxe new premises at Carmelite Riverside overlooking the Thames, with offices on eight floors and two roof terraces. His US counterparts at Hachette have been at war with Amazon.

Tom WeldonPenguin Random House UK, chief executiveRuns the British arm of the world’s biggest publishing house, following last year’s merger of Penguin and Random, dubbed Randy Penguin. Weldon grew up in London, studied history at Oxford, then joined Macmillan as a graduate trainee. It was love at first print; the rest is history. He’s often stated that he’s driven by a passion for gambling and betting, whether on horses, dogs or books. It’s all about taking risks.

JK RowlingNovelistAfter The Casual Vacancy, her first post-Harry Potter novel, met a cool reception, JKR published a crime thriller featuring a one-legged detective, under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith. The Cuckoo’s Calling had been well-received, but became an instant bestseller once its author’s true identity was revealed. The follow-up, The Silkworm, has done just as well. The day before the book launched, she caused a Twitter storm by donating £1 million to the Better Together campaign against Scottish independence.

Ursula MackenzieLittle, Brown, chief executiveKnown for her forthright, jolly demeanour, Mackenzie is arguably the most powerful woman in British publishing as other senior women have stepped back or moved on. The former lecturer in English and American Literature at the University of Hong Kong joined Little, Brown as chief executive in 2006. Its most recent bestseller is crime writer Robert Galbraith, pseudonym of JK Rowling.

Baroness RebuckPenguin Random House, chairmanRebuck, formerly Dame Gail, was made a Labour life peer this summer. The grande dame of British publishing, she relinquished her chief executive’s role at Random House after the Penguin merger to become chairman. The widow of the late polling guru Lord Gould grew up in a house without books and started her career as a production assistant. A long-time champion of women writers, from Susie Orbach to EL James.

Neil BlairBlair Partnership, founderNEW ENTRYThe power behind JK Rowling nurtured her at the Christopher Little Literary Agency and took her with him when he set up his own boutique agency, The Blair Partnership, in 2011. An expert in litigation, he studied law at Oxford before joining Linklaters and working as European head of business affairs at Warner Bros. Known as the ultimate negotiator.

Jonny GellerCurtis Brown, joint chief executiveA 360-degree super-agent who represents big “sleb” authors including John le Carré, David Nicholls and William Boyd. A darling of the glitterati, he’s constantly winning industry awards and admitted that the key to his success is letting other people shine without feeling diminished. Geller had a rocky career start, failing both as a textured wall coatings salesman and an actor before making it as an agent. Keen tweeter, with a big following.

Ed VictorLiterary agentThe tough Bronx-born veteran still holds sway, with a client list that reads like a literary Who’s Who and includes entire families: Lawsons Nigel, Nigella and Dominic, Frasers Natasha and Rebecca, Rogers Ruthie and Richard. And then there are the estates of the rich and famous including Raymond Chandler and David Frost.

David WalliamsChildren’s authorNEW ENTRYThe multi-talented Little Britain TV comic has proved he’s more than a one-hit wonder, with seven best-selling titles for children so far. Books typically feature bullied pre-pubescents, just as Walliams was, and have been favourably compared to Roald Dahl. Sales are soaring for his publisher HarperCollins, thanks to Walliams’s original writing and tireless self-promotion, together with Quentin Blake’s illustrations.

Nigel NewtonBloomsbury, chief executiveIn an industry many see as in decline, Bloomsbury’s profits continue to rise, with founder Newton at the helm for nearly three decades. The American has successfully overseen its digital expansion and new projects including Drama Online and an online directory of fashion information. Harry Potter may no longer command the sales it did, but as chefs are the new rock stars, Bloomsbury can look to Heston Blumenthal, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Tom Kerridge.

David NichollsAuthorNEW ENTRYScreenwriter, novelist and ex-actor Nicholls broke through in 2009 with One Day, and then turned it into an equally successful film with Anne Hathaway released in 2011. His follow-up, Us, came out this autumn and now it has hit the bestseller list, Hollywood is said to be calling. Raised in Hampshire, he lives in north London.

Julia KingsfordCharlie CampbellKingsford Campbell, co-foundersAfter launching World Book Night, Kingsford stepped down as chief executive this year to set up her own literary and marketing agency, Kingsford Campbell, together with Charlie Campbell, formerly a lieutenant for Ed Victor. She’s the marketing brains, while Campbell has literary form as former deputy editor of the Literary Review and organiser of the Bad Sex Awards. They are also marketing ValoBox, a new digital pay-as-you-go reading platform.

James DauntWaterstones, managing directorThe former ship’s purser and banker achieved fame with the establishment of London’s first boutique chain of eponymous bookshops, Daunts, but was then hired by Russian billionaire mogul Alexander Mamut to overhaul the larger chain that is Waterstones. Daunt believes that offering curated reading lists, books from indie publishers and a competitive website are key to survival in the face of Amazon.

Mary BerryAuthorShe’s taken over from Delia Smith as the nation’s favourite cook, having rekindled her career as a judge of TV’s The Great British Bake Off. Now we can’t get enough of Berry’s reliable recipes, winning smile and lemon drizzle traybake. Her website answers such essential dilemmas as “why do my cakes always seem too dry?”. This year sees the launch of her first solo TV series with lucrative tie-in publications.

Richard BeswickLittle, Brown and Abacus, managing directorNEW ENTRYResponsible for publishing Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch this side of the Atlantic, Beswick is as well respected for his sharp editorial eye as he is for his sartorial taste in shirts. His stable ranges from Alexander McCall Smith and Candace Bushnell to David Sedaris.

John LanchesterAuthorNEW ENTRYAlways on the money, Lanchester has enjoyed successful careers in journalism and as a literary novelist. But now he is carving out a new niche as an expert on the global financial crisis, with a dash of humour. First came a novel Capital, then Whoops! and, most recently, How to Speak Money. It’s a language we don’t understand but need to, he says. Married to Anthony Blunt biographer and thriller writer Miranda Carter.

Ben MacintyreAuthorNEW ENTRYThe affable, bespectacled Times columnist has notched up a respectable list of best-sellers about 20th century espionage from Agent Zig Zag to Operation Mincemeat. His latest, A Spy Among Friends, about double agent Kim Philby, triumphed despite MI6, CIA and KGB files all remaining closed to him. Married to fellow Times writer and film critic Kate Muir.

Donna TarttAuthorShe produces roughly a novel a decade, with her third, The Goldfinch, rapidly becoming the year’s must-read. It has fiercely divided critics — failing to make this year’s Man Booker longlist, but scooping the Pulitzer Prize. Famously media-shy, Tartt has said she would rather re-read Dickens than try something new.

Hilary MantelAuthorThe double Booker Prize-winner caused a royal fuss last year after calling the Duchess of Cambridge a shop-window mannequin, but bravely refused to apologise. She caused further outrage in some quarters with her new short story The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher this autumn. Yet, like the hero of her novels, Thomas Cromwell, Mantel herself has been garlanded with prizes and become part of the cultural Establishment, being the only living author to have her portrait hanging in the British Library.

Carol Ann DuffyPoet LaureateA committed monarchist and the nation’s first female and openly bisexual poet laureate, Duffy was appointed in 2009 and is a tireless campaigner, most recently for making books available to prisoners as well as producing popular verse as and when the occasion demands. This year she commissioned and edited a short volume of poems new and old in commemoration of the Great War, 1914: Poetry Remembers, concluding with one of her own.

Caroline MichelPFD, chief executiveWell-connected Michel has run literary agency PFD since 2007 after two decades in publishing at Random House and HarperCollins. Clients include Simon Schama, William Hague and Lord Coe. Known for her love of Lanvin and Louboutins, she is a trustee of both the Hay Literary Festival and Somerset House. Recently said that what she looks for most when interviewing a prospective employee is somebody who wants her job.

Peter Straus Rogers, Coleridge & White, managing directorStraus joined RCW more than a decade ago having been at Macmillan and has built up an impressive list of authors, including Carol Ann Duffy, Colm Tóibín and Kate Atkinson. As president of the Association of Author’s Agents, he is also on a mission to help authors survive in the digital age. Key issues include pushing for a 50 per cent e-book royalty rate and encouraging more transparency from retailers and publishers in relation to sales of digital books.

Malorie BlackmanChildren’s LaureateNEW ENTRYThe first black, female laureate is a zealous campaigner in favour of ring-fencing library budgets and opposed Michael Gove’s “classics in the classroom” policy. The prolific children/young adults author, best known for her futuristic series Noughts & Crosses, is committed to getting more teens to read and directed the first Young Adult Literature Convention in London this year.

Ian McEwanAuthorMcEwan is that rare thing: a literary writer who achieves high sales — thanks partly to the popular film adaptions of Enduring Love and Atonement, with James McAvoy and Keira Knightley. He has produced a consistent stream of highly readable novels, his most recent being this year’s The Children Act.

Andrew RobertsHistorian Cambridge-educated historian is one of the best-connected Right-wing writers. He has been on first-name terms with everyone from George W Bush to the late Baroness Thatcher. His latest epic biography, Napoleon The Great, follows other well-received histories of the Duke of Wellington, Lord Salisbury and the Second World War. Married to top US Brunswick PR Susan Gilchrist.

James BowenAuthor and cat loverNEW ENTRYA modern-day Dick Wittington bound for Hollywood via multiple book deals; Bowen is the former homeless junkie whose fortunes changed after he adopted a ginger stray feline called Bob. The pair became an instant tourist sensation, busking in Covent Garden. First came the heart-warming memoir, A Street Cat Named Bob, then the sequels, which have proved publishing gold.

Cat fan: James Bowen (Picture: Rebecca Reid)

Helen Fielding

NovelistNEW ENTRYAfter years in LA, Fielding bounced back to London last year, returning with her two children and her third, rather more senior, Bridget Jones book. Mad About the Boy sees Fielding’s fictional alter ego, now in her fifties, a widowed mother of two, obsessing about Botox and Twitter; and still looking for a man. Fielding is a leading supporter of the Evening Standard’s Get London reading campaign.

Charles MooreAuthorThe former Daily Telegraph and Spectator editor is better known these days as Margaret Thatcher’s biographer, having published the first volume of his monumental authorised life just days after the Iron Lady’s death last year. The book scooped the £10,000 top prize at the Political Book Awards 2014 and Moore is currently working on volume two, due out next year.

Sigrid RausingPublisherThe Tetrapak heiress, philanthropist, human rights activist and owner of publishing house and magazine Granta is one of Britain’s wealthiest women. Unassuming, but quietly charismatic, Rausing took back the reins at Granta last year after a mass staff walkout over two redundancies. Is said to own London’s second biggest garden after the Queen, in Holland Park, but doesn’t prune roses herself due to having back problems. When not publishing, she has written Everything Is Wonderful, a memoir of the Estonian Swedes.

Edward St AubynAuthorAfter transforming his own appalling experiences of a sexually abusive father into the brilliant Melrose novels, St Aubyn has turned his razor-sharp pen to the world of literary prizes. Some have wondered if his new novel, Lost for Words, isn’t revenge for never having won the Booker. Ironically, it scooped this year’s Wodehouse Prize.

Zadie SmithAuthorThe Willesden-born author splits her time between teaching in New York and her roots in NW6, speaking up on issues from whether mothers can be good writers to saving Willesden Library. A devotee of Game of Thrones, she has said that literary writers underestimate the importance of plot at their peril, and is hard at work on a science fiction romp inspired by Ursula Le Guin. Favours clothes from Topshop and large-framed spectacles.

Martin AmisNovelistOnce the enfant terrible of London novelists, he has morphed into a grumpy old man, much like his late father Kingsley. Yet Amis still commands attention like few other English writers with his willingness to tackle difficult subjects such as the behaviour of Islamic terrorists, which he dubbed “horrorism”. But his latest book, The Zone of Interest, which is set in Auschwitz and uses comedy to tackle the Holocaust, showed he can still cause controversy.

Caitlin MoranAuthor Famous for pulling faces, standing on chairs and tweeting, Times columnist Moran is literary Marmite. While many critics applauded her comical memoir-cum-polemic, How to be a Woman, the jury seems to be out on her most recent book, How To Build a Girl, billed as a novel though clearly autobiographical.

Funny lady: Caitlin Moran (Picture: Getty)

Antony Beevor

AuthorA former officer with the 11th Hussars who served in England and Germany for five years before resigning his commission, he has penned a string of well-received history books. His latest on the Ardennes Offensive of 1944 is coming out next spring. Married to Artemis Cooper.

Kate MosseAuthorMosse hit the jackpot with her bestselling Languedoc trilogy, a steamy historical saga-meets conspiracy thriller, while retaining her literary credentials as co-founder and chair of the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for fiction (formerly the Orange Prize). Awarded an OBE for services to literature last year, since when she has a new novel out, The Taxidermist’s Daughter, a ghost story set in 1912.

Nicky DunneHeywood Hill, booksellerHas taken the classy, old-fashioned Mayfair bookstore into a new, profitable era by offering lots of ritzy extra services, from curated book lists and literary gift boxes to personalised antiquarian libraries. He also arranges readings from his A-list actor friends and neighbours in the shop’s charmingly antiquated surroundings, where Nancy Mitford once tended the tills. Known for its aristocratic customer base, it’s no surprise that the Queen is said to be a fan and has awarded the shop a Royal Warrant.

Simon Sebag MontefioreAuthorDashing historian who has written vividly about Russian history from Catherine the Great to Stalin, and is currently working on a major history of the Romanovs. Television loves him and he has just sold a new TV mini series about Jerusalem, which he describes as “a real-life Game of Thrones”. Married to novelist Santa and is extremely well-connected, with grand friends who include Charles and Camilla.

Andrew KiddFolio Prize, founderNEW ENTRYAfter accusing the 2011 Man Booker Prize of dumbing down, the steel-haired agent set up a “more literary” literary prize, open to all UK-published books written in English, regardless of the authors’ nationality. The Folio Society sponsors the £40,000 prize, won this year by American George Saunders, since when the Man Booker rules have also changed to include non-British authors.

Cathy RentzenbrinkQuick Reads Project, directorKnown as the patron saint of adult literacy, Rentzenbrink was inspired to champion her cause after seeing her father’s struggle with books and witnessing the high levels of illiteracy in prisons. She has just sold a memoir to Picador about her brother, who was knocked down by a car and left in a permanent vegetative state at the age of 16. After eight years she and her family won the case for him to be allowed to die.

AN WilsonAuthorFormer Evening Standard literary editor who is known for his waspish but witty views and his ability to write at great speed. His books include a thoughtful biography of Sir John Betjeman and a history of The Victorians. He has parlayed that into a new, mighty biography of Queen Victoria. How To Read The Bible is due next year.

Rebecca NicolsonShort Books, publisherThe granddaughter of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson — and the younger sister of author Adam — Nicolson set up her own publishing house, Short Books, in 2001, since when she’s had a mix of hits and misses, coaxing titles from friends and relatives. Last year’s Mimi Spencer bestseller The Fast Diet Book changed her fortunes almost overnight and has resulted in several Fast spinoffs. Married to Ed Miliband’s spin doctor, Tom Baldwin.

Ion TrewinBooker Prize Foundation, literary directorThe mischievous, charismatic ex-literary editor of The Times, former Weidenfeld and Nicolson publisher and authorised biographer of the late Alan Clark, Trewin is one of the great fixtures of the London books scene. Much of the credit for keeping the Booker relevant and talked-about is down to him.

Peter FlorenceHay Festival, directorThe energetic founder of the Hay Festival now runs a global empire. While Hay in Wales in May remains the most established for the literati to congregate, Florence has taken the model to far-flung corners of the world, from Colombia to Kenya and Mexico to the Maldives, helping to export London writers to a global audience.

William SieghartForward Poetry Prize, directorEntrepreneur, philanthropist and publisher who believes in the positive power of poetry. He set up the Winning Words poetry project for the London Olympics and is chairing a report commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport looking at the future of our public libraries. Has written a book on golf and is involved in numerous good causes. Made money setting up a marketing agency which he sold to WPP.

James RuncieSouthbank Centre, head of literature and spoken word The son of the former Archbishop of Canterbury, James Runcie runs the literary side of the Southbank and also has sidelines as a novelist, film-maker, TV producer and theatre director. This autumn the six-part ITV series Grantchester will be released, based on Runcie’s book about a clergyman detective in the village in the 1950s.

Tania HarrisonLatitude Festival, arts directorNEW ENTRYAs art director of the music-based Latitude Festival in Southwold, Harrison has helped create a gutsy alternative to the usual suspects at Hay and Cheltenham. Think up-and-coming writers, storytellers, performance rappers and poets. She’s known for clinching deals with agents over espresso martinis at The Groucho Club and catching the last Tube to her Wood Green home.

Amanda RidoutHead of Zeus, chief executiveNEW ENTRYThe former HarperCollins and Phaidon Press executive has stepped into the role vacated by Anthony Cheetham, who remains chairman, with a mission to take the fledgling, boutique publishing house into a lucrative digital future. Head of Zeus publishes commercial e-books on everything from dangerous dating to sword ’n’ sandal sagas, with sales at nearly two million.